This chapter considers the poetry underlying rites of passage. Throughout the life cycle, the complex cycling and recycling of customs and rites of passage is reminiscent of the classic children's ...
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This chapter considers the poetry underlying rites of passage. Throughout the life cycle, the complex cycling and recycling of customs and rites of passage is reminiscent of the classic children's toy the Slinky. Along with the rites of passage that mark linear time, seasonal customs and holidays shape a sense of cyclical, recurrent time. Rites of passage are the mileposts that guide travelers through the life cycle. In 1909, ethnographer Arnold van Gennep compared tribal rituals in different parts of the world and noted the similarities “among ceremonies of birth, childhood, social puberty, betrothal, marriage, pregnancy, fatherhood, initiation into religious societies and funerals.” All these rites of passage, he observed, consist of three distinct phases: separation, transition, and incorporation.Less

Navigating Transitions : Poetry in Rites of Passage

Steve Zeitlin

Published in print: 2016-09-16

This chapter considers the poetry underlying rites of passage. Throughout the life cycle, the complex cycling and recycling of customs and rites of passage is reminiscent of the classic children's toy the Slinky. Along with the rites of passage that mark linear time, seasonal customs and holidays shape a sense of cyclical, recurrent time. Rites of passage are the mileposts that guide travelers through the life cycle. In 1909, ethnographer Arnold van Gennep compared tribal rituals in different parts of the world and noted the similarities “among ceremonies of birth, childhood, social puberty, betrothal, marriage, pregnancy, fatherhood, initiation into religious societies and funerals.” All these rites of passage, he observed, consist of three distinct phases: separation, transition, and incorporation.